HOPES were last night raised that a buyer could be found for a stricken Darlington engineering company after it was revealed that 13 potential owners had expressed an interest.

However, seven people at Malcolm Engineering Company (MEC) lost their jobs yesterday, prompting fears about the future of the remaining 63 people employed at the plant.

The Northern Echo revealed earlier this week that MEC, in Banks Road, Darlington, had called in administrators after getting into financial difficulties. However, the firm remains open for business and is trading as a going concern.

Of the 13 companies known to be interested in buying the company, three are thought to be serious potential buyers.

Jimmy Skivington, regional organiser for the GMB trade union, said the mood among the workforce had been affected by the redundancies.

He said: "We had a meeting earlier in the week with the receivers and heard there have been 13 inquiries from people interested in buying the firm, so it was pretty positive stuff.

"But then, out of the blue, seven people were made redundant, people who had worked there a long time - one lad had been there for over 20 years. The receivers are thinking in terms of pounds, shillings and pence, but if they don't get the employees on board, they're never going to be able to trade it as a going concern. These redundancies, but particularly the way no one was given any prior notice, have caused quite a bit of bad feeling. The workforce are not happy at all. We very strongly expect our members to be given better treatment than this."

Family-run MEC was set up in the town in 1968, and continues to be run by the Malcolm family.

After being established by J Vernon Malcolm, it is now run by brothers and joint managing directors Chris and Doug Malcolm, with Debbie Malcolm as commercial director.

Among MEC's biggest customers are Nissan and ThyssenKrupp Automotive (TKA) Tallent Chassis.

A meeting is now planned for the coming days between the receivers and workforce to discuss the future of the plant.

Mr Skivington said: "Hopefully the meeting will help to repair some of the damage that's been done - we will see what they say at the meeting."